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Jessica Sabol receives 2008 National Selection Teams Fellowship to compete in the dramaturgy category at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival
Megan Bond Receives Prestigious Lambda Alpha Scholarship for Anthropology
 (podcast)
"First in the nation" is not an unattainable title for many students at the Robert E. Cook Honors College. Megan Bond accepted her anthropology degree with the knowledge that, as the sole recipient of the National Lambda Alpha Charles Jenkins Scholarship, she is well on her way to emerging as one of the top minds in her field. The $5,000 scholarship is awarded to one graduating senior per year by Lambda Alpha, the only national honorary society for anthropology. Of all the students nominated by the organization's 165 chapters, Ms. Bond was selected as the candidate who most strikingly embodied Lambda Alpha's ideals. According to Megan, the scholarship is awarded to the student who has made the most "distinguished achievement by reason of noteworthy contribution in the advancement of the study of anthropology." She was nominated by IUP's Department of Anthropology in January, and what was billed to her as a "long shot" has now become a very notable reality.
As this year's scholarship winner, Megan will also be afforded the opportunity to publish an article-length manuscript of her original work in Lambda Alpha's journal. Her study focused on the process of adjustment for students from Bangalore, India who came to study at IUP.
"I did the study with the Indian students at IUP for my class in ethnographic research methods with Dr. Chaiken last fall," Megan explains. "I became interested in that population when I realized that I was surrounded by Indian international students around my home at Copper Beech. I saw that they formed an enclave for themselves in this neighborhood and decided to investigate the changes they were in the process of undergoing. I had the opportunity to use the skills I was learning in class and apply them in the community, discovering that human life is truly interesting everywhere you look."
Megan attributes much of her success to the many advantages that were available to her as an RECHC student. "I think that I got the award because of my experiences made possible by the enhancement fund," she says. "I had many plans and goals but little resources, and the enhancement fund provided me with the opportunity to achieve what I have. It helped me begin what I want to do for the rest of my life."
Megan's plans have literally taken her across the world. Many students in the Honors College take advantage of the Robert E. Cook Enhancement Fund, a blessing for students who, like Megan, want to reach beyond the pages of their textbooks to gain real-world experience in their fields. During her years at IUP, she participated in an ethnographic field school in Peru, a study abroad program in Valladolid, Spain, and the Anthropological Study Odyssey to Belize and Guatemala.
"I have found that experiences abroad not only prepared me to live in an increasingly global world, but they have helped me grow personally, intellectually, and professionally. I have only been traveling and working abroad for two years, but in that short period of time I have been able to live in different cultures and understand and apply what I have learned in anthropology classes. I never would have imagined that I could move overseas for months at a time, not knowing anyone or even really comprehending the language that is spoken there, and live and learn in the ways that I have. Professionally, my international experience has led to accomplishments both here an abroad. I have been able to complete independent research projects and present at a national conference. These addition to my education definitely contributed to my future and helped ensure that I would be admitted into graduate school," Megan says.
While many other undergraduates were doing their research through Google Scholar, Megan was quite literally up to her elbows in world cultures. This kind of experience is precisely what made her a strong candidate for the National Lambda Alpha Charles Jenkins Scholarship and what will sustain her through her doctoral studies at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. She will be pursuing a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology with a concentration in Medical Anthropology starting this fall.
"I want to investigate the sociocultural, behavioral, economic, and political factors related to food, nutrition, and health, especially in Latin America. I am interested in Applied Anthropology (my undergraduate concentration), with which I can take what is learned about food, nutrition, and health and develop possible solutions in attempt to ameliorate problems related to health and nutrition. As part of my education at SMU, I was also given a research assistantship and a teaching assistantship. I want to continue research, develop programs that promote positive change, and teach at the university level to introduce students to anthropology and the worldview that I think goes along with it."
Megan's auspicious beginning suggests that Dallas will serve as her launching pad for many international and academic adventures to come.
Theresa Huber, a senior theater major of the Robert E. Cook Honors College at Indiana University of Pennsylvania has received national recognition for her panache in sound design.
*Article addendum -- Huber wins KCACTF Award in Sound Design
It is not enough to merely complement a theater director’s approach for Theresa Huber, of Livonia, New York, who skillfully elevates the psychological aspects of theatrical performances to influence an audience. For her creativity and unique style, Huber has been awarded a 2008 National Fellowship to compete in the sound design category at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival in Washington, D.C. in April.
“I love the psychological aspect of sound design,” Huber explained. “A good designer is not just throwing some sound effects in or sound background music. A good designer is telling a story through their music and their sound. Every single sound you hear ought to be moving the story forward and engaging the audience or it shouldn't be in there. Watching the audience react whether consciously or subconsciously to my music and my sound effects and how they filled the room, you'd be surprised how powerful it really is and the dramatic effects it will have on a person.”
She was a sound designer in the IUP fall production of The Beauty Queen of Leenane.In the dark Irish comedy, the elderly and infirm matriarch, Mag, impedes the dreams and desires of her aging daughter who is forced to care for her.
Huber focused on amplifying the psychological elements to influence the audience.
“Take the death scene with Mag, if those few dying notes hadn't played as her body fell forward, there might have been a weaker element of fear in the audience,” said Huber, who was selected for the national competition for her outstanding achievement at regional festivals.
Only eight students in the nation are chosen to compete in each of eight categories including set, costume, light, sound and makeup design, stage management, directing and dramaturgy. The regional and national competitions are comprised primarily of graduate students.
The IUP production was one of only seven in its region, which includes all of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Washington, D.C., invited to perform at the Region II KCACTF at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh in January.
“I initially went just to help get The Beauty Queen of Leenane up on its feet at the KCACTF Region II Festival,” she said. “I entered in a couple of sound designs into the design contest just to get some feedback from professionals and find out whether or not I actually have a shot of "making it" in the business as a sound designer. I am glad I went because not only did I win, I received some job offers as well as grad school offers. Most of all, I was told I was uniquely talented and had great potential in sound design from a professional, something no one else had told me before.”
Huber’s first major sound design was for Guys and Dolls followed by Hedda Gabler last spring. “She worked very effectively not only in creating a design that well supported the production values -- but working closely with the production's videographer and lighting designer,” said Barb Blackledge, chair of IUP’s theater and dance department.
“This spring, she has taken on the sound design for a very theatricalized production of Bertold Brecht's ThreePenny Opera which also involved her learning about sound re-enforcement technology,” Blackledge said.
Her contribution to The Beauty Queen of Leenane has garnered her deserved recognition, according to Blackledge. “Theresa has won the regional awards in sound design and is going to the national festival largely based on her outstanding work in sound design for this production,” Blackledge said. “Theresa also only came to discovering sound design as her primary pursuit towards her future in theater professionally. In fact, beyond this national level honor, she has been pursued by at least five major graduate programs in sound design across the country and has already received full ride offers to prestigious grad schools in this area.”
Huber said she was able to incorporate her own personal style with the director’s approach.
“In The Beauty Queen of Leenane, I learned that it's okay to take the director's vision and put a little bit of my take on it,” she said. “I didn't have to be a marionette or just a sound engineer. I could actually design my own aesthetic and it would be unique and successful while complementary to the director's approach. I became versatile in my work and also learned not to ignore my own personal style.”
She also blended technical skill and her theatrical vision to enhance the sound design. “Technical skills that I learned included recording live sound and turning it into something else,” she said. “For example, I recorded pickles, meat, and oil frying and turned it into the flesh-burning sequence used in the show. I also took decent recordings of old Irish music and digitally edited in the sounds of static and crackling. I equalized them properly to make it sound like a tiny radio. I also learned how to convert flash files into wave files which means I can take videos
and turn them into sound effects. Little tricks like this really make a difference to a sound designer who works under a strict time constraint.”
Her abilities extend beyond sound design as does her experience.
“I have done everything from acting to stage management,” she said. “Good theater artists ought to have a basic understanding of all areas and apply it to their concentration. Because I have a background in all of the areas, I can communicate well with others and understand where they are coming from. I take everything I learn from them and apply it. For example, sound designers and lighting designers work directly with each other to make sure their aesthetics will flow well in telling the story.”
Huber expects to learn new techniques from other talented sound designers at the national festival.
“I expect to learn a lot,” she said. “I know many special classes in tech and design are offered to us free of charge. I am also expecting to meet some extremely talented designers from across the country. It'll be nice to meet people as enthused about sound design as I am.”
As a sound designer, she contends that, “Sound design is kind of "the odd one out" in theatre. To be a truly great sound designer, you have to be good or at least decent at science, math, programming, electrics, art, music, and many more things. I feel like this has been the one concentration in theater that uniquely fit all of my talents. I get to make the audience react just like an actor does, but I am hidden behind my work.”
Huber, who will be a sound intern in the summer at the Texas Shakespeare Festival, plans to earn a master’s degree in fine arts. “I have been accepted to many grad schools including UCLA, Cal Arts, Ohio University, and Urbana-Champaign,” she said. “I haven't decided where I am going yet, but I will soon, and it will be for a MFA in sound design. I will probably do touring shows and maybe look into design for film. Maybe one day I will teach sound design as it is a growing field.”
IUP has afforded Huber opportunities she said were not available through other programs of collegiate study. “I think IUP was the right place for me because no other school would have given me sound design opportunities unless I had a vast knowledge in electrics and signal flow,” she said. “I have only been doing this for a year, and I was still given wonderful opportunities here in the main stage. That has made all the difference and I'm so thankful to the faculty for that.”
Jessica Sabol receives 2008 National Selection Teams Fellowship to compete in the dramaturgy category at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival
(podcast)
Ardent academic appreciation of theater has earned a sophomore theater and English major of the Robert E. Cook Honors College at Indiana University of Pennsylvania national recognition for her dramaturgy skill.
Jessica Sabol, of Morrisdale, PA, has been awarded a 2008 National Selection Teams Fellowship to compete in the dramaturgy category at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival in Washington, D.C. in April.
“I enjoy sharing my passion about the historical and critical side of a production with the company and audience to enhance their experience and further their learning,” Sabol explained. “Most of all, I hope to make them want to do the research themselves going back to the sources. Discovering correspondences in what you already know and what you are learning is a very rewarding feeling.”
Sabol has served as dramaturg for IUP productions including The Beauty Queen of Leenane, a contemporary Irish dark comedy, and Kindertransport, a play about children being saved from the Holocaust. She is the dramaturg for IUP’s current production of King Henry IV Part I
“As a dramaturg, I am typically in charge of much of the research and writing behind a theatrical production. This role, however, is different for every production, and I design my own process with each show I work on. In The Beauty Queen of Leenane, historical research beyond the basics was not necessary so I approached it emotively for both the company and the audience’s emotional response and understanding.
“I solely worked with history during Kindertransport, and for the department’s current production of King Henry IV Part I, I am working to bring the understanding between the true history of England to the theatrical history created by Shakespeare.”
In her role as dramaturg, she also helps company with any questions, builds a web site for reference and tries to inspire the artists involved to use the resources provided to further their own knowledge and research for the production. Sabol also uses a lobby display and program notes to further understanding, interest, and experience at the theater.
“I enjoy my dramaturgical work because it incorporates what I most enjoy about producing theatre—history and criticism behind a production or script,” she said. “When I was in high school, I was an actor and learned to love theatre by performing. Now, as an academic, I have grown to appreciate theatre more and more through dissecting scripts, choices, etc. and helping others to have a similar academic experience.”
Sabol continues to evolve her dramaturgy skills by taking on the dramaturg role. “With Jessica's double major in English and theater and her exceptional writing skills, she has grown considerably in her dramaturgy skills despite only discovering last year that she had an interest in this area,” said Barb Blackledge, chair of IUP’s theater and dance department. “She did a masterful job in serving as dramaturg for our fall production of The Beauty Queen of Leenane. She was able to use this opportunity to exhibit her excellent work on this production at the festival as well as the competition exhibits there.”
The Beauty Queen of Leenane was one of only seven in IUP’s competition region, which includes all of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Washington, D.C., invited to perform at the Region II KCACTF at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh in January.
“Honestly, the biggest enhancement of both my interest and skills was attending the regional KCACTF,” said Sabol, who was selected for the national competition for her outstanding achievement at regional festivals. “At the festival I was able to see others work, get feedback on my work, and attend sessions about dramaturgy. I found flaws in my work and got new ideas and approaches from these opportunities in Pittsburgh, and I have since worked to better my product as I work with King Henry IV Part I this spring.”
Only eight students in the nation are chosen to compete in each of eight categories including set, costume, light, sound and makeup design, stage management, directing and dramaturgy. The regional and national competitions are comprised primarily of graduate students.
“To be invited on a Fellowship Scholarship to the National KCACTF is one of the most amazing opportunities I could hope for,” Sabol said. “It is really an honor to be selected, especially at the national level for my work. More than anything, I find it humbling because I never expected to go to festival as a sophomore. Most of the students at nationals are graduate level.”
Sabol is most looking toward working with like minds interested in dramaturgy. “At the festival, I am very excited to participate in workshops with world-renowned artists in my field of interest.” she said. “In fact, I will be working with the dramaturg from the Arena Stage in Washington D.C. which is the theater that I would be most interested in pursuing an internship or job with. This festival gives me an opportunity to have a week of learning with individuals interested in dramaturgy, learn from professionals, and network on the national level. It is an absolutely priceless opportunity.”
In addition to her role as dramaturg for IUP productions, Sabol is the treasurer of the RECHC’s TOST and Turned, a student-run service-theater group. She directed a one-act production last year. She has also written two 10-minute shows the group will perform this spring.
“I hope to continue as a dramaturg throughout my undergraduate career, but I think it will be helpful to my understanding as a dramaturg, and, hopefully, a playwright, to direct and act, so I am hoping to work in those areas starting next semester,” she said. “I would also like to continue working on scripts, and hopefully have a successful ten minute or one-act staged in the theater department before I leave.
“I really enjoy playwrighting. I need to work more at it, when I find the time, but I would say that it is a larger passion to me than dramaturgy because it incorporates everything I do as a dramaturg into something I create. I love dramatic structure, and I think that a well-crafted script is one of the most beautiful forms of literature. A playwright gets to bring characters to life, and the playwright can only say what he or she wants to say through a character’s mouth. It’s tough, and I still haven’t ever got it right, but it is very rewarding.”
Barbour Returns to the Honors College for a Phenomenal Performance
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 Robert E. Cook Honors College alumna and percussionist Erin Barbour returned to the Great Hall on the campus of Indiana University of Pennsylvania in December for quite nostalgic reasons and to premier her new arrangements.
“I'm very comfortable with the Great Hall space,” said Barbour, 27, a native of Morrisville, PA, who currently resides in Charlottesville, Virginia.
“I've performed there many times before and I even had one of my senior recitals there,” she said. “I know the way the hall sounds, and I think it is a comfortable, intimate space. Also, one tune was to an accompanying video, and I knew I needed a space equipped with a video screen and a nice audio system. But the greatest thing about a Great Hall performance is that I love that space. I practically lived there for four and a half years. I had the Honors College graduation ceremony on that stage, and I learned priceless things in that room.
“At our concert we premiered several works that I have written and arranged,” she said. “I wanted to premier them in a special place, and I thought the Great Hall would be wonderful.”
She studied percussion at IUP and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in music performance with a double major in history in 2002.
She played quads for “The Legend,” IUP’s marching band, and percussion in Jack Stamp's Wind Ensemble, the IUP Orchestra and the IUP Percussion Ensemble. She also played piano for the IUP Jazz Ensemble.
Since graduating, Barbour has embraced several career paths while her musical career has also flourished.
She manages two French restaurants and is studying for the sommelier test, which will accredit her with being a wine expert. She handles promotional materials for bands at music booking agency Sam Hill Entertainment, teaches drum lessons and works with local drum lines and percussion sections.
She teaches clinics and hand-on workshops, and has guest lectured at IUP, Indiana University, Piedmont Virginia Community College, Bloomington (Indiana) South High School and Western Albemarle High School. She has worked with the Lotus World Music Festival in Bloomington, Indiana, and served as a sound preservation technician at the IU Archives of Traditional Music.
Along with her talent as a percussionist, Barbour is also an accomplished composer and singer. She is an ethnomusicologist and her interests lie in classical percussion, Latin drum set and marching percussion.
Her compositions and arrangements have been performed by the IU Latin American Popular Music Ensemble , the MUMC Hand Bell Choir , and various drum lines, singers, chamber groups, and percussion ensembles.
Her accolades include performing in the Afro-Cuban ensemble Nasha, Brasilian samba drum lines Women of Mass Percussion and Samba Sensation, congas in the Joe Vento All-Star Big Band and the Afro-Hoosier International Afro-pop band.
She has also played drum set in several eclectic ensembles, including the girl punk rock band DUM(B) , heavy metal band Black Mojo, and several samba groups.
“Performing is so intense,” she explained. “I love the individual perspective that musicians can impose upon compositions. It's so interesting to study how different musicians interpret a work of music, and then to study that music and interpret it your own way. In that way, performance is like saying something. It's even more interesting to perform a piece that you wrote yourself, because then, you're saying something that you thought of to begin with.
“If you accept the soul/body duality of people, music is a way of creating a sonic physical environment that can transport both the performers and the listeners to another more metaphysical place. In such a perspective on music, the musician serves as a conduit to that other place. In that sense, performing is practically religious.
“Percussion is so much fun because it's so kinetic. Moving around so much is fun and audiences are almost always receptive to percussion performances.”
Currently, Barbour is timpanist in the Charlottesville Municipal Band , teaches drum line and concert percussion at Western Albemarle High School, and performs with several percussion duos: iMallet with I-Jen Fang, Kairos with Mika Godbole, and Wanderlust with Irish musician Ann Connolly. Erin also collaborates with Hang Drum player Dante Bucci, singer-songwriter Kathy Compton, and rapper MzMena.
“I'm also working on a bunch of compositions,” she said. “One is a chamber piece for trio of vibraphone, marimba, and hang drum. The hang drum is this new form of drum in the steel drum family. It looks like a flying saucer and has an incredible tone.”
Also on her musical horizon are several projects.
“I am planning an album,” she said. “It will be a jazz/Latin album and I will play vibraphone and sing with a jazz quintet. I have two other research projects I am working on as well. One is a documentary/book about the history of marching drum lines. The other is a book/documentary about the history of the drum set.”
Barbour said she continually draws on her experiences and learning process of the RECHC.
“The education at the Honors College is one that really calls one to action,” she said. “While I was a student I received much encouragement from the Honors College staff, professors, and Robert E. Cook to take action and do countless things I might never have done otherwise. Each summer I traveled all over the world to take special classes. Each fall I traded stories with all my classmates who had also been all around the world doing research or taking classes. Such an environment makes the world seem small and, in a sense, conquerable. That view of humanity, plus the HCesque call-to-action attitude provides an incredible global perspective that I appreciate and draw from on an daily basis.”
Her advice to students is to “Talk to your professors. Regularly plan out goals and drafts for achieving the goals, then get to it. Think big. Use all the resources available to you.”
IUP Professor honored as the 2007 Nutritional Anthropologist of the Year
(podcast)
Addressing food access and food insecurity as a global problem, Dr. Miriam Chaiken, an Indiana University of Pennsylvania professor, was recently honored as the 2007 Nutritional Anthropologist of the Year by the Society for Anthropology of Food and Nutrition.
“Anthropologists use cross cultural knowledge to address food access and food insecurity,” said Dr. Chaiken, whose research and focus is nutritional anthropology in third world countries. “We have unique perspectives that bridge the gap between macro and micro-level perspectives because we understand better than others the cultural contexts of food production, allocation and use.”
Dr. Chaiken, who has taught anthropology courses at IUP for 20 years, completed her dissertation in the Philippines where she studied the means to successful adaptation on a tropical frontier. Later in her career, she worked with UNICEF Kenya to improve child nutrition and survival. She has also served as President of the Society for Anthropology of Food and Nutrition, established in 1974.
While her research in nutritional anthropology and her service to professional organizations have targeted chronically malnourished children, Dr. Chaiken said that her role in teaching is an even bigger mission.
“I see the bigger mission is having students embrace and realize their role as global citizens,” she said. “I want them to be aware of inequality in food access and be aware of their enormous privilege relative to so many people in the world.”
For those who are not so fortunate, she explained, “The deck is stacked against them. While partly attributable to global climate change, as droughts are more common, the real root of the problems of poverty and hunger are linked with long histories of colonial exploitation, population growth, government policies that favor the wealthy rather than the poor, and other complex factors. It is important to remember that virtually everywhere, when we are talking about the poorest of the poor, we are talking about women and children. When food is scarce,
most adults can whether the storm. Children can not.”
Statistics are grim for many children in undeveloped countries, where there are enormous food insecurities.
“You need food for metabolism, for growth, and for activity,” she said. When children don’t receive adequate food, first they cut back on activities and become very passive, then their growth becomes stunted, and finally malnutrition compromises their metabolic function and they become very susceptible to infection. Chronic nutritional deficiencies cause diminished intellectual capacity. These are very serious problems because they affect so many children, for example, in the area I’ve been working in “In Mozambique, 50 percent of children are stunted and not growing. Children die from organ failure and infections from malnutrition. Chronic nutritional deficiencies causes diminished intellectual capacity.”
Dr. Chaiken has worked with organizations such as UNICEF and Save the Children which try to improve agricultural production, provide peer education and access to technology and knowledge. For women, the programs might target better hygiene, household nutrition and strategies for treating children with severe malnutrition.
“Despite the urgent need to address emergencies, relief should not be our first priority,” Dr. Chaiken explained. “Relief is sometimes necessary, but the real priority should be development programs that build on local strengths and remedy the root causes of the problems of food insecurity. We need to empower parents and incorporate local participation in these programs. Local projects work when parents are involved, and mobilizing participation is not difficult as every parent wants their children to be healthy and happy. We can provide resources and successfully rehabilitate even severely malnourished children at home with community-based strategies. Traditionally, a severely malnourished child would be sent to a hospital or clinic and be accompanied by a parent. This places undue hardship on the family as the mother has to also cater to the needs of other children and contribute to subsistence production.
Better nutrition will improve child survival rates, she said. A highly successful program instituted several years ago, she noted, is providing Plumpynut, a ready-to-eat, pre-packaged, high protein peanut butter and powdered milk-based food used to reverse malnutrition in severely malnourished children in their homes, rather than a hospital. She noted that we have ample evidence that there are multiplier benefits from improving rates of child survival. When children live, their parents are more inclined to use family planning, population growth begins to decline, and standards of living improve. But the first step is improving children’s access to adequate and quality food supplies.
Accomplishing this goal is daunting, as food access is directly linked with global security problems. Citing the State of the World’s Children, a UNICEF-produced annual report, Dr. Chaiken said, “The bottom 10 countries are where there is political and civil unrest. Nine are in sub-saharan Africa and the other is Afghanistan.”
“If we’re concerned about the security of our country—terrorism, economics--we have to care about the standard of living in poor countries,” she said. “We can go back to the UN Declaration of Human Rights. We need to overcome stereotypes about poor people in third world countries being lazy. They are incredibly hardworking and resourceful. Why shouldn’t we use our wealth to help? I hope to challenge my students to recognize the linkages between our lives and actions and the lives of others across the world. We need to recognize that the US government provides far less humanitarian aid than many countries, and that as citizens of this country we have a right to know how our tax dollars are used, and to influence our legislators in setting the priorities for foreign aid, among other issues. I hope they come to realize that we’re all in this together.”
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Students of the Robert E. Cook Honors College on the Campus of Indiana University of Pennsylvania are Creating a Whole New World Through Second Life
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Students of the Robert E. Cook Honors College on the campus of Indiana University of Pennsylvania are creating a whole new world through computer generated imaging and are using it to communicate, learn and explore anything, anywhere, anytime with their alternate personas in a second life.
 A female, college aged student with a blond pony tail, a great sense of style and deep intellect, can teleport into the Great Hall at RECHC to read a book, relax in a chair or have a conversation with someone in another country. She is part of a new era in learning -- an Avatar with an intrinsic, educational value. She is a three-dimensional model representation of and created by her user, student Erin O'Brien.
O'Brien and fellow student Michael Daniel are recreating the RECHC in an online simulation using California-based Linden Lab's computer program called Second Life, an online virtual world, to interact with the real world.
"We're bringing the RECHC to the Internet with a physical representation of our ideas demonstrated through our curriculum and discussion groups," said O'Brien, a sophomore social studies education and Asian studies major from Glendora, CA. "I've talked to people in Holland, Spain and the UK. You can speak in a foreign language and ask questions and learn from them."
Motivated by their creativity, O'Brien and Daniel spend much of their free time developing their simulation. "We just started building this because we could," said Daniel, a sophomore economics and philosophy major from Mechanicsburg, PA.
Daniel has also developed a Teaching Heads Up Display (HUD) which can be used by professors who write lectures ahead of time and drop it into an object. That lecture will be delivered line by line to students during a class using Second Life or could even be read at another time.
"They can put a lecture in or note cards inside an object," Daniel explained. "Professors can use it as a presentation or allow students to pick it up and read it again."
Second Life has opened a new realm of possibilities for learning. The unique setting allows students and faculty to optimize their time while utilizing cutting-edge technology to provide an interestingly conducive learning environment.
"It allows students and faculty to interact with each other outside of normal classroom hours in a three dimensional world," said Dr. R. Scott Moore, an IUP history professor. "It provides students the chance to experience locations and exhibits virtually that they might not have a chance to see in person, archaeology sites or the Sistine chapel for example. For students interested in technology it offers them the chance to explore a new media for interaction and better appreciate the possibilities it offers for businesses and education."
The RECHC simulation operates on the university's Crimson Island, which is currently being developed by IUP faculty and students. Moore is working with Dr. Bev Chiarulli of IUP's anthropology department to develop an additional SL island exclusively devoted to archaeology that is funded by an IUP Academic Excellence and Innovation Award.
The island will include virtual recreations of Moore's work with the Pyla-Koutsopetria Archaeological Project in Cyprus and Dr. Chiraulli's work in Belize with Mayan culture, and an underwater archaeology site. They are working closely with Dr. Allen Partridge of the Applied Media and Gaming Center who, along with his students, is helping design and build the site. "We'll go to Crimson Island and have conferences for everybody when this is ready," Daniel said.
O'Brien and Daniel have created prims using complex, 3-D CGI (computer graphics imagery) to generate the complete layout and detail of the RECHC's Great Hall, where students socialize, study and utilize its library. They also plan to recreate all of the classrooms, offices and the lounge.
"Each of the things in this hall started out as a primitive object," O'Brien said. "The tables started out as a box and cylinders. We trimmed out the details from there."
Now the tables have the same appearance as those in the Great Hall with beveled edges and wood grain. The simulation of the room's décor including the walls, ceiling, windows, carpeting, artwork, chairs and books is detailed.
Moore said the SL technology is already incorporated into IUP classes and his plans are to bring it to two of his classes next semester. Moore's digital history class will introduce students to changes that digital technologies are bringing to the way historians research, write, present, and teach the past.
"It will examine literature on this media and study closely the state of digital historical work by scholars, teachers, archivists, museum curators, and popular historians," he said. "As they examine this work, students will also explore the fundamental philosophical and ethical issues raised by efforts to put history on line. It will also provide a basic introduction to some of the most common software used by historians to create digital history, including an introduction to "Second Life."
For Travel blogs from Dr. Moore's students in Cyprus got to: http://realtravel.com/cyprus-trips-i5416404.html
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Honors Students Journey to Cyprus with Professor
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 Robert E. Cook Honors College students from Indiana University of Pennsylvania journeyed to one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations to explore its modern day culture and uncover its past.
Led by Dr. R. Scott Moore, an IUP history professor, the team unearthed artifacts over the summer from the site, where close to the sea on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus a settlement flourished in the seventh century.
“There is something utterly serene about archaeological survey,” said Slade Powell, a senior history major and Asian studies minor from Pittsburgh, Pa. “You might feel permanently hunched from bending over the tilled dry ground and the Cypriot sun might be baking you in your clothes like a potato in its skin, but somehow none of that makes a difference. You just line up your compass anyway, walk your straight line, and decide which fragments of a dead civilizations' remains are worth the eight seconds it takes you to put them in your plastic bag.”
Students discovered beyond the books what archaeology entails.
 “I gained an overall appreciation for the process of actively pursuing archaeology,” said Mara Iverson, a junior history major from Vandegrift, Pa. “I also learned a great deal about what I like to study in history and how I enjoy going about studying it.”
Iverson also discovered that, “Archaeology is not for me, though it is exceptionally valuable as a method for uncovering the past. I also learned that I prefer the ideological rather than the practical. I like thought exercises and document research more than standing outside in the elements collecting physical data.”
In the fifth year at the site, near the city of Larnaca, Moore and student scholars continue to excavate and study artifacts to compare the culture of that settlement along the southern coast of Cyprus to similar eastern Mediterranean sites. The work is part of the Pyla-Koutsopetria Archaelogical Project (PKAP) and is co-sponsored by the University of North Dakota.
“Our primary goal is research” said Moore, director of the project. The focus, he said, is to discover what the archaeology shows about the trade, commerce and economics of the area. “Cyprus is a major tourist attraction but we are fortunate in that the area we are working hasn’t been built up.”
Moore said the field experience enhances the academic learning.
“It’s reinforced in a different way than can be accomplished in the classroom,” Moore explained. “We designed the project to be like a field school that provides hands-on experience. What I like about archaeology is that it borrows new techniques and technologies from other disciplines.”
Said Powell, “I didn't care about archaeology when I decided to go. I just wanted to see the country and maybe get an idea of what living abroad would be like. We visited sites all over the island: late Roman baths, early Byzantine basilica, one very early Christian church with
semi-preserved wall paintings, an Ottoman mosque, and modern Nicosia along the Green Line. I can't even do justice to the variety and beauty of the sites we visited on our weekend trips.
Weekdays were just as busy, and just as wonderful.”
Students were also exposed to the collision of modern-day politics and culture. Cyprus today is divided into Turkish and Greek zones. While relations have improved between them, the border is still monitored by United Nations peacekeepers.
“For the students, they are exploring a different culture,” Moore said. “I think it’s very important for students to get out of their comfort zone. By doing this, you broaden your world and gain a better understanding of other cultures. Who knows, you might consider doing something different with your life.”
Moore, who spends six weeks at the site every May and June, usually takes up to five students to the site where they spend three weeks collecting and documenting artifacts that are stored in the Larnaca District Archaeological Museum.
The draw for students is more than the educational aspects. “They want to go abroad,” Moore said. “Cyprus sounds cool and exotic. It adds to their experience. It is very safe, yet so different.”
And that kind of exposure, he said, will help shape the students’ view of the world.
“I learned about a part of the world I do not often encounter in my studies,” Iverson pointed out. “Cyprus combines Middle Eastern and Mediterranean culture. It was fascinating to see their history because America's is so much shorter and more insulated. Cyprus, being a relatively
prosperous island in the middle of a busy sea, bears the marks of the trade in goods and ideas that constantly moved through the ports through the centuries and continues today.”
Moore, who has plans to continue the program through at least 2011, is also looking for answers about the end of that once-thriving coastal community.
 “If they were conquered or left,” he ponders, “why didn’t they return and rebuild? Did they move inland or were they wiped out?”
The answers may lie in the archeological finds. While local farmers have tilled up many artifacts, the teams look further below the surface for answers.
In the past three years, his teams have collected 11,000 artifacts, mostly ceramic shards. However, this summer a graduate student from Scotland also joined them and used magnetic imaging to locate formations such as walls.
“A staggering amount of our artifacts are Late Roman in date,” Moore said. “Since we surveyed less than 20 percent of the land we estimate that there are about 110,000 to 120,000 artifacts in our area, a one mile by ¼ mile section.”
Along with the significant Roman influence, there is evidence of early Christianity.
“Last spring there was a torrential rain,” Moore said. “It uncovered part of a Roman wall around the main hill in our area, Vigla. The magnetic imaging on Vigla uncovered what looks like a basilica, or church. You can tell by the lines shown on the imaging. You can clearly see the apse, or rounded end. It was on the coastline to be seen, to reflect the wealth of the community. We want to develop that site.”
As the usual temperature hit the 90s and often broke 100 degrees, the normal workday started by 7 a.m. The team would stop for the day around 3 p.m. With so many tasks to be completed, students were given the opportunity to work with the artifacts, usually by cleaning and recording them.
“Everybody washes pottery,” Moore said. “We soak the artifacts for half an hour and put them out to dry. We then record their weight, color and type.”
The broken pottery pieces of dishes, fine wares, cooking wares, or coarse ware items were easily identified by the project’s ceramicist based on their style or decoration.
In addition to cleaning the artifacts, students also utilized special skills such as illustrating the artifacts or photographing and scanning them.
 Said Iverson, “I liked imagining the real people who created the pieces and used them to help them live their lives. I like feeling connected to history rather than viewing it as something simply to be put in a museum, admired, and forgotten.”
Handling the items helped Iverson imagine the past and relate that, “A normal person used these dishes and water jug; the pieces of which I was scrubbing with a toothbrush sitting under the same sun they used nearly 2000 years ago. We understand the past and ourselves better if we remember the similarities as well as the differences.”
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Robert E. Cook Summer Honors Program at Indiana University of Pennsylvania Teaches High School Students Critical Thinking
(podcast)
Summer Honors Program students at Robert E. Cook Honors College discovered new ideas, considered other viewpoints and became inspired to learn more in such fields as chemistry, film, music, history, dance, creative writing and leadership.
161 accomplished high school students from across the country converged for two weeks of intensive academic exploration and a piece of the collegiate experience at RECHC at Indiana University of Pennsylvania July 15-28.
Students studied a field of choice and an interdisciplinary Honors Core course where they learned from IUP professors of literature, philosophy, history and the fine arts. They lived in Lawrence Hall, and ate in the campus cafeteria, Foster Dining Hall.
Getting hands-on experience in the university’s chemistry lab allowed David Shelhammer, 17, of Johnstown, to delve deeper into experiments than is the norm in his high school science classes.
The class learned the applications and technologies of the Gas Chromatography (GC Mass-Spec), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) equipment, then used the specialized instruments to break down and analyze aspirin.
“After a reaction was made, we got to see it,” Shelhammer said. “We synthesized pure aspirin then ran it through the analytical methods. We used the data to analyze the properties, what substances they were and what the masses were. We made aspirin and ran it through the analysis.”
Breaking down the properties and analyzing them is more science than you will find on the drug’s label, Shelhammer contends.
“You’re talking about looking at a microscrapic level, not a microscopic level,” Shelhammer explained. “The amounts can be different in the substances. They break down and the numbers will change.”
In film studies, Shelby Cunningham, 15, of Pittsburgh sought meaning in each film’s content.
“We watched films in Red Literature primarily about coming of age and growing up in the United States,” Cunningham said. “This is the stuff they’re flinging at us in popular culture. You’re not watching for pure entertainment. You have to think about the ideas in the film, different lights, shots, props and characters and what they mean. You don’t look at the obvious. If the color red is used predominantly in the film, you know it means something. You think about it on an intellectual basis.”
Creative writing students were given topics and completed quick, timed writing assignments.
“You wrote as fast as you could in timed writing, “ explained Altizer. “It’s not an English kind of thing. It’s a creative kind of thing.”
“We did a lot of quick writing, seven-minute timed writing,” said Noah Kane, 16, of Sunbury. “It’s blitz writing. You were given a topic and go wherever you want.”
Journal writing has become a new outlet for Kane’s writing.
“I learned a lot of interpersonal things writing journals,” Kane said. “It helps tremendously with timed writing and focusing on a topic. I felt as though a lot of my thoughts were confined to my head and they build up and build up. I have ideas. I’m going to keep a lot of my memories and future aspirations.”
Leadership students interviewed leaders from campus and the town of Indiana who discussed specific issues and the role of community involvement role in their work.
“In school, there isn’t such a class (leadership),” said Stephanie Anderson, 17, of Springfield, Missouri. “That intrigued me and gave me perspective. There was a lot of individualized attention. They brought in campus leaders and outside leaders. Those we interviewed said they never took a leadership course but you can learn leadership skills. We learned all different aspects of leadership. What I will take home from this is what makes a leader and I learned group problem solving.”
“We started out analyzing roles within a small group and moved on to local leaders,” said Beth Hendershot, 17, of Port Matilda. “We really dissected the characteristics of a leader. You have to have good people skills, be confident but not arrogant, organized, accepting, passionate and charismatic. (Leadership) isn’t something that’s taught in school. I believe everything taught in that class will help me a better leader.”
In a unique, modified version of the university’s honors college core curriculum, students were also exposed to new ideas and discoveries in all areas while they debated a question of the week such as “How do we discern the good from the bad?” and “What do we know? What do we believe? Is there a difference?”
“I got a real good idea how it will be presented here in the Honors College,” said Laura Nichols, 17, of Broomall. “The overall experience is that it opened my eyes to other views.”
History students probed their thoughts, beliefs, feelings and attitudes after analyzing specific reading aimed at povoking a reaction.
Shelhammer said, “We focused primarily on racial development in American history. A lot of the emphasis was reading from every possible perspective. I’m interested in history and one thing that really surprised me was I had to read a selection from Fitzhugh.”
The selection was pro-slavery writer George Fitzhugh’s Cannibals All! also known as Slaves Without Masters published in 1857.
“He was a belligerent intolerant,” Shelhammer said. “It was a perspective that I had never considered. He defended it on economic, social and religious grounds. He cited New Testament and (Christian disciple) Paul to defend it. I thought the biggest thing I gained was not a historical fact, but a greater understanding of very extreme points of view and moderate points of view.”
Hendershot said, “We spent the week looking at different mediums and connected that to the core question of the week. By the end of the week, everyone had a good idea about how to answer it. It really opened up my mind to other people’s beliefs. It’s fascinating to hear everyone else’s ideas based on their culture and history.
“The first two days, I thought, ‘Wow. It’s going to be a long two weeks.’ But now, for the last day, I think I wish it could be two more weeks.”
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IUP Cited by Consumers Digest
Contact: Office of Media Relations, Michelle Fryling, Director
May 1, 2007
Consumers Digest Magazine announced that IUP has been selected as number four in the magazine’s June 2007 rankings of the “Best Values in Public Colleges and Universities.”
A total of 100 colleges and universities out of some 3,800 schools in the United States have been ranked as the top values by Consumers Digest Magazine. The rankings are based on attributes that validate or define the institutions' academic prowess factored against annual cost of tuition and room-and-board.
The rankings are derived from a formula that blends the academic excellence of first-time freshman at a school, which includes standardized test scores, high-school rank, grade-point average, with the institution's educational quality. This is based on an institution’s four- and six-year graduation rate, student-to-faculty ratio and percentage of faculty holding a PhD or appropriate terminal degree.
That “value-index” score was factored with the cost of attending each school to determine which schools offered the most academic value per dollar. The rankings were based on information from academic year 2005-06.
“This result further affirms that in the higher education market, IUP has the best product at the most competitive price structure,” said IUP President Tony Atwater. “IUP, indeed, is a national leader in showing that a high quality college degree can be attained at a very affordable cost. This is great news for prospective college students and their parents.”
For public schools, the magazine only considered nonresident tuition figures. Military institutions and extremely specialized colleges were excluded. Financial aid was not factored in.
Twenty-seven public institutions are new to the magazine’s listing, including IUP.
In February, IUP was at 40 out of 100 colleges and universities selected for Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine’s 2007 “Best Values in Public Colleges” listing. "The Kiplinger 100” is a listing of schools that combine outstanding value with a first-class education.
IUP has been selected for the Princeton Review’s Best Universities guidebooks as an overall outstanding university for the past six years and has been included in all of the Princeton Review’s Best in the Mid-Atlantic guidebooks. IUP’s Eberly College of Business and Information Technology has been selected for the past three years for the Princeton Review’s Best Business Schools.
In the past decade, IUP has been included in How to Get an Ivy League Education at a State School by Martin Nemko; in Money magazine as a great educational value; in Careers and Colleges magazine in 2003 as a “gem of a school; and in Kaplan Publishing’s The Unofficial, UnBiased Insider's Guide to the 328 Most Interesting Colleges in 2002 and 2003. IUP was selected by Forbes.com as one of the 25 “Most Wired” campuses in the nation in 2003. IUP’s Robert E. Cook Honors College was the subject of a chapter within Dr. Donald Asher’s Cool Colleges for the Hyperintelligent first and second editions.
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Sophomore Chemistry Major Wins Goldwater
by Laura Heiman
When one thinks of the esteemed Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, such phrases as dedication to academics, extraordinary potential and prestigious award come to mind. One more phrase can now be added to the list: Beth Paladin.
Honors College sophomore Beth Paladin, a chemistry major, was awarded the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship for the 2007 – 2008 academic year. The Goldwater award is bestowed on 300 sophomores and juniors throughout the country for research done in the fields of the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering. Applicants are judged on their grades, commitment to their field of study and potential for excellence. Awardees are encouraged to pursue higher degrees in their selected fields.
The essay Beth submitted for the scholarship focused on the work she had started last spring with Dr. Heba Aourhma. Starting research as a freshman, Beth studied a specific aspect of organic chemistry with Dr. Aourhma. This research is intended to result in the refinement of drugs by modifying certain physical properties. Beth stated that this medical research was “so rewarding” not only in the scientific aspects, but also in the end goal of the study – helping people.
When asked when she first heard about the Goldwater Award, Beth stated that she had read about it before even attending IUP in a chemistry newspaper. However she accredits both the Robert E. Cook Honors College and the IUP Chemistry Department for prompting her to apply for the scholarship. The Honors College professors not only encouraged Beth to submit her work, but also facilitated her throughout the process. The winning research was supplied in part by the Chemistry Department. “In another chemistry department,” Beth said, “you would be fighting for the professor's attention along side juniors and seniors. Here at IUP, the size of the program allows research opportunities for freshman and sophomores. It’s a major advantage of the program.”
And how did she react when she found out she had won? “I was very excited, and I still am very excited!” Beth said she felt not only thrilled, but honored to be winning such an award. After a wide grin, she added, “And, of course, I felt a little surprised.” Beth is the fourth IUP student in the past five years to receive a Goldwater Scholarship.
When not studying chemistry or winning awards, Beth participates in a wide range of activates, especially music. She has been playing the cello for nine years, and is a member of the IUP Chamber Winds. Beth recently exhibited her musical ability in a pre-concert performance at Heinz Hall.
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